LONDON—This time, Lolo Jones didn’t fall flat on her face. It just felt like it. Jones made it cleanly over all 10 barriers on Tuesday night in the women’s 100-meter hurdles final. But track’s pin-up girl crossed the finish line in fourth place.

The race was so close nobody knew who won at first. Harper and Pearson just lay in their lanes, catching their breath as they looked at the scoreboard at Olympic Stadium and waited on the result.

When it finally flashed up, both women reacted as if they’d won.

“I can’t be mad,” Harper said. “Silver is fine.”

It represented vindication. She was the accidental medalist, having won gold in Beijing. But most just remembered the agonizing way Jones lost that race. Take that memory, throw in good looks, charisma and some media savvy, and Lolo became the most recognized U.S. athlete not named Kobe, LeBron or Michael.

The Lolo lovefest became a story in itself. Her openness was refreshing at first. The cheesecake photos were to be expected. Lolo lost me when she started talking about being a virgin and asking Tim Tebow on a date.

One commentator compared her to Anna Kournikova, who became rich and famous for looking good while never actually bothering to win a tennis tournament.

I wouldn’t go that far. Jones wouldn’t have been in the final if she weren’t one of the better hurdlers in the world. She just wasn’t as good as Pearson and Harper. Not that such things matter in the marketing game.

All that turned likeable Lolo into a polarizing figure. Nobody could blame her for taking all those endorsements. Nor should they fault Oakley, BP, Red Bull and the rest for signing Jones.

She’ll move product. She just couldn’t move herself as fast as Harper. That was the frustrating thing, at least if you value achievement over hype.

It’s hard to tell if the great expectations affected Jones. It wasn’t so hard to tell they fueled her rivals. They could stick it to Red Bull, show Oakley where it could put its sunglasses.

For Pearson, it was also darned nice to win Australia’s first gold medal of the games.

“Oh, my goodness,” she said, “it’s absolutely incredible.”

She and Harper embraced like old friends. Then Welles came over and gave the Pearson a big hug.

While they did a celebratory jog around the rainy stadium, Jones walked quietly out of sight.

“It was my season’s best time,” she said, “so obviously I did the best I could do.”

As she fought away tears, there was no way not to feel sorry for her. Lolo didn’t create the Olympic marketing game; she just played it better than her competitors.

But when it really mattered, they got what really mattered. And Jones will forever remain a medal virgin.